Kerbside recycling broke all records over Christmas and New Year in County Durham.

The amount of cans and glass bottles put out for recycling during the festivities totalled 20,526 tonnes - equivalent to the weight of 5,000 teams of Santa's reindeer!

This compares with 17,896 tonnes over the same period last year when the amount of waste recycled or composted was 18.91 per cent of all household waste produced.

This year the figure rose to 25.72 per cent.

"It was a bumper period for kerbside recycling in the county and in the Kerb-It collection areas, it was a record month for every authority," said Daniel O'Connor, Durham County Council's waste minimisation officer.

"The high tonnages are a result of awareness campaigns such as stickers on bins, street canvassing, bus advertisements, the schools' pledge scheme and a Christmas Waste awareness campaign."

Councillor Brian Myers, county council cabinet member for waste management, said: "The figures show that as well as knowing how to celebrate, people are being responsible about the waste they produce by using the kerbside recycling boxes.

"This is a great effort and shows that people do care for their environment."